Thousand Fortunes

Ad blocker interference detected!

Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers

Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected.

The Thousand Fortunes comprised the pantheon of gods and divine spirits worshipped within Rokugan. Their worship was the basis of the dominant Rokugani religion known as kami no michi, or "way of the gods". There were the seven major deities (generally referred to as the "Seven Fortunes") often invoked by most people within Rokugan and a veritable legion of minor Fortunes and animistic place spirits. The most powerful of the deities, and the beings generally considered the leaders of the Rokugani pantheon and of the Fortunes, were the gods of the Sun and Moon whose identity changed over the course of Rokugani history.

Before the Fall of the Kami, the tribes of humanity worshipped the Fortunes in a very primitive fashion. The Celestial beings did not really grasp the perceptions of mortals and did little to actually inform humans of what must be done, so religion was
essentially a matter of trial and error. It would not be until the Kami appeared that the mortals would be instructed on proper worship. [1]

The Seven Fortunes existed before the Kami fell to Rokugan. The Tribe of Isawa worshipped them, and they in return protected the Tribe and kept the practice of blood magic, maho, safe. When the Kami Shiba saw the Seven were not wicked gods, he begged Hantei to beseech their mother Amaterasu to accept the Seven Fortunes among their pantheon and greet the Isawa as allies. She agreed, but only as long as the Seven Fortunes always watched over her mortal children of Rokugan. In spreading themselves over so wide a populace, the Fortunes could no longer keep the blood magic free of Jigoku's touch as they once had. [2]

The legends said the Seven Fortunes of Good Luck rode through the sky on a golden chariot that bestowed good luck on whoever saw it. [3] Other said they were inside a boat. [4] The Fortunes had both a peaceful and a wrath­ful aspect. The peaceful aspect was that of a large, pleasantly smiling figure sitting on a pillow. The wrathful aspect was pictured with black skin, flam­ing eyes and fangs, often swinging a sword. [3]

In addition to the Seven Fortunes, there were a large number of minor deities who carried out very specific duties within the Celestial Heavens and the Spirit Realms. Lesser Fortunes were invariably connected in some way to one of the Seven Fortunes, and it was believed the lesser Fortunes were created by the Seven to do their bidding or to embody certain aspects of their divinity. [6] It Some of the most important of these minor Fortunes included:

Dark Fortunes are those deities or spirits that embody the darker forces of reality. They are malevolent Fortunes who nonetheless are sometimes invoked by those mortals who desire to work ill upon their fellows or for other selfish reasons. [citation needed]